A Sustainability and Climate Change Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Dr Mohammed Aminu, has said lesser dependence on importation of cooking gas, increase in local production, and improvement in requisite infrastructure to improve access to end users could help to reduce the cost of the commodity.
He said although the government did not have direct control over the price of the commodity, and might not be able to regulate it desirably if the commodity is imported, certain approaches could help reduce the cost as well as Nigeria’s contribution to climate change.
There have been concerns over the significant increase in the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas in the past one year, forcing many Nigerians to revert to the use of unclean energy sources like firewood, charcoal, biomass, fossil fuel, and others, all of which contribute more to climate change.
Aminu explained that many Nigerians were using unclean fuel even before the price increase, but that the renewed use could reverse the positive steps so far achieved in climate change mitigation. He added that it could put the country at the risk of depleting its remaining forest cover, as well as destroy the wildlife that depends on forest habitat for survival.
“These also increase vulnerability to climate change effects such as extreme droughts, flooding, and storms,” he added. “The carbon impact of LPG is substantially less than that of solid fuel like biomass and fossil fuels including kerosene, thus LPG contributes less to climate change.”
“For many years, Nigeria has been a leading producer of LPG even though the country has also been amongst the biggest users of solid fuel. The International Energy Agency estimates over 120 million Nigerians rely on firewood and charcoal for their cooking needs.
“So apart from the cost of cooking gas, it is worthwhile to also consider improving access to modern sources of energy for millions of Nigerians. There is also a need to curb illegal logging which at present is a profitable business in Nigeria that contributes to the fast-shrinking of woodlands and rainforests.”
He said one way of curbing illegal logging was to take positive steps in preserving forested areas under the United Nations-backed Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation system. “Gladly, the Nigerian Climate Change Bill which was signed into law by
President Muhammadu Buhari in 2021 involves the establishment of the REDD+ registry as part of nature-based solutions to climate change,” he noted.
Aminu said even though Africa contributes the least to global warming, with an average of one metric tonne of carbon dioxide per capita, “the continent suffers from the deleterious effects of climate change including extreme droughts, flooding, and storms”. He noted that the emissions might increase as African countries grow into modern economies and beyond.
He called for the adoption of climate mitigation approaches across sectors. He stated, “In the oil and energy industries, a leading climate change mitigation technology is carbon capture and storage. In the agricultural sector, there are various climate-smart practices that increase productivity, and resilience to the impacts of climate change, and where possible reduce emissions.”
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